Stripping the Façade -- Conversations with K. Hariharan and Kamal Hassan

Date: 13-Jan-2014

Place: Sri Muthu Venkatasubbarao Concert Hall

 

"O my god! I can't believve I'm gonna see him in another hour!" "He's just like di Caprio. The Indian version!" Such were the conversations around me. I'm seated in the hall, waiting for the no-nonsense man to step in. And, voila! He's here! "Love you Kamal!", I screamed. Even I'm a hypocrite.

The Hindu organized the Lit for Life 3-day fest, and this was the third day. I will not talk about the arrangements, the decoration or even introduce to you the 2 gems. Dropping straight on what happened there, K.Hariharan kickstarts the conversation explaining the redundancy of the Censor Board. "Why do we need CBFC? All that CBFC is made to curtail, filter is readily brashly and freely available in websites like RedTube, and many others!" The topic was "Lights, Camera and Censor! Moral Policing in cinema"

They talked on the need to regulate and exploit the X-rated films industry, which is currently sprawling underground -- like prostitution is regulated in Bangladesh. As I mentioned before, Kamal hassan is a no-nonsense man. I got to see why. Inevitably talks turned on to the communalization of movies and on Viswaroopam. Kamal shared, "When the muslim groups threatened and demanded that I drop Viswaroopam, a friendly Hindu group came by and offered protection. I exclaimed, 'let me make a film on Hindus. Then you can come and protect me.' Even the moolahs of Mumbai watched my movie and wondered what was so anti-muslim about it!"

Talks then turned to the autocracy of the Producer's Councils and many other groups which are treating cinema like a lactating cow -- not like an art. He pointed out that one of the rules of the council explicitly states that there can only be makeup men, not makeup women. "since when have men outwitted women in makeup?!", he exclaimed.

In the conversation, they went on to aver that cinema is merely a reflector, not an influxor. I had reservations on their statement. Then, he neatly busted the 100Cr mania with a cliché. "If the movie tickets are approximately priced at Rs. 100, and there are hundreds of crores of Indians. So, if 1Cr people watch a movie, you earn 100Cr. Don’t you think it’s a failure because the other 99Cr + people didn't watch the film and don’t have access to cinema?!", he made his point.

I was hoping for Baradwaj Rangan to show up also, but he didn't. I would've loved him to come on stage and talk over the topic.

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